frodo1977

8 minutes ago, Chef Kevin said:

An  aluminium plate cover like this might do the job if you are unable to find a ceramic planter base big enough.

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/vogue-aluminium-plate-cover/e893

You could probably drill holes in the side of the cover, to help air flow.

Best Wishes

Kevin

Thanks for the info I might check this out 👍

1 hour ago, Wade said:

Unfortunately this is a design flaw of BBQs that have air vents in the centre at the bottom.

The first, and easiest, thing to try is to place a disk on the fire basket that is slightly bigger in diameter than the air intake holes. This will cause the ash to fall around the vent holes and not directly over them. The disk can be metal, an old ceramic plate or flowerpot base, a disk of thick tinfoil etc.

The next thing to also try are briquettes/charcoal that produce less ash.

I used the proQ cocoshell for a 6 hr smoke. Absolutely brilliant hardly any ash, great heat aswell. The previous briquettes were from Morrison’s and going by other things people have said and a few vids on YouTube it seems that they have a great deal of filler in them. I suppose you get what you pay for is right in this case! Again the knowledge your sharing is excellent and is very much appreciated 👍 

These are the bottom of the smoker and the grate which holds the charcoal. There isn’t much airflow going on so how do I approach this?.

Thanks for the time to explain this to me. It’s very much appreciated, I will give this method a go on what you’ve told me and hopefully I don’t mess it up 😂 many many thanks.

A question with the cocoshell briquettes how much in general should I use? With normal charcoal I found I’ve been using about 6kgs. I’ve done 3 smokes and used roughly about the same amount every time which to me seems quite a lot.

3 minutes ago, Sprig said:

Believe me it's a worthy purchase ...it's more to do with recipes, how to work with the meats, cutting etc and and wealth of recipes for marinates and rubs but the content it has on outdoor cooking in general is more than enough. 

Is this available on Amazon at all? 

I think I’ll try the cocoshell briquettes first to see if this has any effect on the temperature and duration off sustained heat with no drop off in temp. There are holes in the tray which holds the briquettes I covered these with a layer of tinfoil on one smoke. It stopped the ash from covering the vent so maybe the sieve with the tinfoil might be a better option than to start drilling holes everywhere.

I think I might have to check this book out! 

I bought a tower smoker 

here’s the link https://www.towerhousewares.co.uk/t978505-smoker-grill-xl.html

I bought a relatively cheapish one to just start with I was using charcoal briquettes but I’ve just bought some proQ coco shell to try as I read there isn’t a lot of ash produced with these.

New to smoking I’ve done 3 smokes and they’ve turnt out ok. Well no one complained 😂 just want to learn techniques and join in on the convos 

I’m new to smoking and I bought myself a tower bullet smoker, as inexpensive and just to get going and gain experience. My problem is the bottom vent, which is situated directly underneath the bottom section in which the charcoal burns. The problem I’m having is that there is a build up of ash which blocks the vent thus not building up enough heat. The question I’m asking is would it be possible to move the vent to the side of the pan which wouldn’t get blocked with ash which would make controlling the temp easier?